Officials believe missing ship sank in storm

Published: Friday, June 28, 2013 at 08:37 PM.

PANAMA CITY — New Zealand search and rescue crews announced Friday they believe a schooner carrying three former Panama City residents and four others sank after a storm at sea early this month.

Since Tuesday, New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre has searched more than 484,000 nautical miles in their efforts to locate the Nina and its crew, which includes David Dyche, the boat’s skipper, his wife, Rosemary, and their 17-year-old son, David. The family lived in Panama City’s Cove neighborhood for several years and were popular members of the local boating community.

Authorities lost contact with the Nina following a June 4 storm that reportedly produced wind gusts near 68 miles per hour and waves as high as 26 feet. The boat was about 370 nautical miles off the coast of New Zealand. Aalso aboard the ship were 72-year-old Evi Nemeth, of Colorado; a 28-year-old man; an 18-year-old woman; and a 35-year-old British man, according to The Associated Press.

Aerial searches for the boat continued Friday, and rescuers said they’re hopeful survivors will be found, according to the AP. But, in Lynn Haven, Rosemary Dyche’s 41-year-old son Justin Donovan said his hope is fading.

“Honestly, I want to stay hopeful. But because of the length of time that they’ve been missing — and this is the South Pacific in winter — I have to keep a realistic viewpoint,” he said Friday. “It’s kind of a hard thing to deal with. I have spent enough time at sea to know you’re not allowed mistakes. I’m not saying (David Dyche) made a mistake; it’s just the sea is unforgiving. If you don’t make a mistake, it will force you to make one. And this storm that they hit — any ship, no matter the size, is going to have a hard time with that.”

Kevin Donovan, Justin Donovan’s 36-year-old brother and a resident of Panama City Beach, shared that sentiment. He added that weather at sea can be unpredictable, noting he once lived aboard the Nina for three years during a trans-Atlantic voyage.

“It’s especially tough out at sea,” he said. “The weather forecasters give you their forecast, but it’s really a best guess. There’s just no telling.”

PANAMA CITY — New Zealand search and rescue crews announced Friday they believe a schooner carrying three former Panama City residents and four others sank after a storm at sea early this month.

Since Tuesday, New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre has searched more than 484,000 nautical miles in their efforts to locate the Nina and its crew, which includes David Dyche, the boat’s skipper, his wife, Rosemary, and their 17-year-old son, David. The family lived in Panama City’s Cove neighborhood for several years and were popular members of the local boating community.

Authorities lost contact with the Nina following a June 4 storm that reportedly produced wind gusts near 68 miles per hour and waves as high as 26 feet. The boat was about 370 nautical miles off the coast of New Zealand. Aalso aboard the ship were 72-year-old Evi Nemeth, of Colorado; a 28-year-old man; an 18-year-old woman; and a 35-year-old British man, according to The Associated Press.

Aerial searches for the boat continued Friday, and rescuers said they’re hopeful survivors will be found, according to the AP. But, in Lynn Haven, Rosemary Dyche’s 41-year-old son Justin Donovan said his hope is fading.

“Honestly, I want to stay hopeful. But because of the length of time that they’ve been missing — and this is the South Pacific in winter — I have to keep a realistic viewpoint,” he said Friday. “It’s kind of a hard thing to deal with. I have spent enough time at sea to know you’re not allowed mistakes. I’m not saying (David Dyche) made a mistake; it’s just the sea is unforgiving. If you don’t make a mistake, it will force you to make one. And this storm that they hit — any ship, no matter the size, is going to have a hard time with that.”

Kevin Donovan, Justin Donovan’s 36-year-old brother and a resident of Panama City Beach, shared that sentiment. He added that weather at sea can be unpredictable, noting he once lived aboard the Nina for three years during a trans-Atlantic voyage.

“It’s especially tough out at sea,” he said. “The weather forecasters give you their forecast, but it’s really a best guess. There’s just no telling.”

More than 1,000 people died at sea each of the last five years, according to the International Maritime Organization, which notes that collecting and verifying such data is difficult. About 400 of those deaths per year involve domestic vessels like the Nina.

Among the primary causes of such deaths is operator inexperience, from which the Nina did not suffer. David Dyche had more than 35 years of sailing experience, and his son and wife were seasoned crew members. Nemeth had crossed the Atlantic Ocean in her own vessel, as well as sailed the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas, her son Laszlo said. And David Dyche encountered numerous storms during his travels at sea, Justin Donovan said. During a 1991 trip across the Atlantic, Donovan recalled, David Dyche detailed on videotape how he handled a recent storm at sea.

“He talked about how the storm came up and it was all hands on deck, and how they were taking care of the rigging and whatnot. And he made sure that everyone in the crew was wearing a life jacket, just taking all the precautions like that,” Justin Donovan said.

Search and rescue operations will now focus on locating survivors of the Nina and the schooner’s lifeboat. If the Dyche family and others aboard the Nina are found alive, Justin Donovan said, it will be because David Dyche took similar precautions in the June storm before their disappearance.

“He knew his stuff,” he said. “He knew how to take care of his crew, and I have no doubt in his abilities to captain a boat.”